Have
you ever noticed a vine growing and spiraling around a chain-link fence? The
fresh growth, the young green vine, is easy to remove with a simple twist of
your wrist. But the old, brown, woody part of the vine is very difficult to
remove. It takes a lot of time and effort to break it off, and sometimes it
won’t come off unless we are willing to also remove part of the fence itself.

Bad
habits are like a vine on a chain-link fence. The sooner we get after them, the
easier they are to remove. But the old ones, the ones we’ve let remain in our
life for years, are hard to get rid of. And sometimes they can’t be removed
unless we also remove other parts of our life. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》

Habits

Bad
habits are like comfortable beds: easy to get into, but hard to get out of. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》

Habits

Habits
have a tendency to take our like in directions we would never have chosen. Good
habits can guide us through treacherous times and situations where we aren’t
sure what to do and lack the foresight to realize the dangers ahead.

Bad habits are often seemingly fine at
first, but they can lead us into treacherous waters. They are like a smooth
river on which a young boy is floating-seemingly harmless-which then becomes
swifter-very exciting-then becomes a rapids-somewhat scary-and finally goes
crashing over a waterfall-devastating, possibly even fatal. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》

Habits

Habits
are like cable. Each day we do something in a pattern we intertwine one thread
with another. As the threads are woven together, a cable is formed. On any
particular day, the thread we added was too small to be noticed. But, after
many threads have been woven in, we find that together they have become a
practically unbreakable cable.

So
it is with habits. Daily practices over time become habits that are practically
unbreakable-so be careful what you weave. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》

HABITS

Americans
spend $50 million a year on subliminal message tapes designed to help them do
everything from improve their self-image to stop smoking. But there's so hidden
message in the National Research Council's verdict on such techniques. The
Council's report, released in September 1992, concludes that subliminal
messages simply don't work. They don't deliver the life- transforming power
they promise. ── Today in the Word, June 14, 1992.

Habits are first
cobwebs, then cables. ──Spanish
proverb.

In Pulpit Digest
William H. Willimon used this illustration; "Philip Haille wrote of the
little village of Le Chambon in France, a town whose people, unlike others in
France, hid their Jews from the Nazis. Haille went there, wondering what sort
of courageous, ethical heroes could risk all to do such extraordinary good. He
interviewed people in the village and was overwhelmed by the ordinariness. They
weren't heroes or smart, discerning people. Haille decided that the one factor
that united them was their attendance, Sunday after Sunday, at their little
church, where they heard the sermons of Pastor Trochme. Over time, they became
by habit people who just knew what to do and did it. When it came time for them
to be courageous, the day the Nazis came to town, they quietly did what was
right. One old woman, who faked a heart attack when the Nazis came to search
her house, later said, 'Pastor always taught us that there comes a time in
every life when a person is asked to do something for Jesus. When our time
came, we knew what to do.'" ──Willliam
H. Willimon.

True habits of the
heart are there when they are most needed. According to a recent Self Magazine
article, losing just one dietary bad habit can result in significant weight
loss over a period of one year. If you just substitute high calorie offenders
for similar tasting, lower calorie choices, the weight loss can still be
significant. Give up one teaspoon of cream in your coffee and lose 6 pounds a
year, or switch to a similar amount of skim milk and lose 5 pounds. Give up a glazed
donut a day and lose 25 pounds a year, or switch to a medium sized bran muffin
and lose 11 pounds in a year. Skipping a teaspoon of butter on a daily bagel
will leave you 11 pounds lighter at year's end, or change to a similar amount
of cream cheese and drop 5 pounds. Some other items you can drop and save on
are a 12 ounce can of soda a day and forget 17 pounds in a year; a 1.2 ounce
chocolate bar a day saves you 12 pounds in 18 months. There's nothing to it but
to do it. ──Management Digest, September, 1989.

Studies have shown
that an immediate health effect will make more people change a habit than some
distant threat. ──Encounter, January 15, 1980, Vol. 15, No. 2.

Years ago when the
western U.S. was being settled, roads were often just wagon tracks. These rough
trails posed serious problems for those who journeyed on them. On one of these
winding paths was posted a sign which read: "Avoid this rut or you'll be
in it for the next 25 miles!"

A habit is something
you can do without thinking--which is why most of us have so many of
them. ──Frank Clark, Register and
Tribune Syndicate.

It is a commonplace
how easily a child of 3 or 4 picks up a foreign language if exposed to it
without any formal teaching. Yet we are unwilling to admit that a child of the
same age picks up our unconscious attitudes and prejudices without being
taught--and often retains these longer than any of his formal education. ──Sidney J. Harris.

Los Angeles Dodgers
manager Tommy Lasorda describes his battle with bad habits: "I took a pack
of cigarettes from my pocket, stared at it and said, "Who's stronger, you
or me?" The answer was me. I stopped smoking. Then I took a vodka martini
and said to it, "Who's stronger, you or me?" Again the answer was me.
I quit drinking. Then I went on a diet. I looked at a big plate of linguine
with clam sauce and said, "Who's stronger, you or me?" And a little
clam looked up at me and answered, "I am." I can't beat
linguine. ──Ron Fimrite in Sports
Illustrated.

75% to 85% of
smokers would like to kick the habit. Forty million Americans have already
beaten their addictions. ──Homemade, April, 1989.

On a road not far
from my home are some trees that are slowly being destroyed by huge coils of
ivy. The vines wind themselves like snakes around the trunk. At this point it is
impossible to untwist these runners because they are so firmly embedded into
the trees. They are literally strangling the life out of those helpless giants.
But there was a day when the ivy was a small plant just seeking a little
support in climbing. Had the trees resisted these tiny tendrils, they would not
be in the state they are today. ──Paul Van
Gorder.

Habit is a cable; we
weave a thread of it every day, and at last we cannot break it. ──Horace Mann.

Habit is habit and
not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a
time.── Mark Twain.

The chains of habit
are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be
broken. ──Samuel Johnson.

Bad habits are like
comfortable beds--easy to get into but hard to get out of ──Source Unknown.

An elderly teacher,
with a pupil by his side, took a walk through a forest. Suddenly he stopped and
pointed to four plants close at hand. The first was just beginning to peep
above the ground, the second had rooted itself pretty well into the earth, the
third was a small shrub, while the fourth was a full-sized tree. The tutor said
to his young companion, 'Pull up the first plant.' The boy did so eagerly,
using only his fingers.

'Now pull up the
second.' The youth obeyed but found the task more difficult.

'Do the same with the
third,' he urged. The boy had to use all his strength to uproot it.

'Now,' said the
instructor, 'try your hand with the fourth.' The pupil put his arms around the
trunk of the tall tree and couldn't even shake its leaves. 'This, my son, is
just what happens with our bad habits. When they are young, we can remove them
readily; but when they are old, it's hard to uproot them, though we pray and
struggle ever so sincerely.'" ── From
the Heidelberg Herald.